"The
spring sunlight glittered upon the gray waters of the North Sea far
below as Major John C Meyer, commander of the 352nd Fighter Group, led
by his P-51D Mustang fighters towards their rendezvous with a formation
of American heavy bombers en route to Germany. They were nearing the
Friesian Islands when a flight of three twin-engine aircraft were
sighted some way below. Meyer decided to investigate and, taking two
sections of Mustangs, eased into a dive. Then it happened; the three
aircraft suddenly picked up speed and pulled steadily away from the
pursuing Mustangs. As the American pilots opened their throttles wide
the unidentified aircraft lifted and climbed with unbelievable speed
until they were lost to view in the blinding light of the sun. The
Mustang pilots were left doubting the evidence of their own eyes."

Quote from the book: The
Messerschmitt Me262 Combat Diary

There
is no doubt that the Me262 jet fighter was an amazing and awesome aircraft,
far beyond its years, and devastatingly destructive.

The origins of the
Messerschmitt Me262 were born out of Germanys need to evaluate other
forms of propulsion other than piston, when the Treaty Of Versailles
forbade Germany from developing further aircraft technologies. Rocket
and jet propulsion were not clauses in the treaty due to be thought of
as folly; only past-times for the rich and eccentric, hell-bent on
danger and publicity seeking. Indeed, many early developers of such
powerplants became unfortunate victims of their own curiosity, as many
were killed during their `experiments`.

In
Britain, however, a young ex Royal Air Force pilot named Frank
Whittle,
was experimenting with a large gas-turbine engine. This design, the W-1,
was to become the worlds first fully-working jet engine. Whittle found
it very difficult to get his design seriously recognised by the British
Technical Establishment, and the `laxity` of the inter-war years, showed
no urgency for his work to be given priority. This was to prove a fatal
mistake for the British in the race to get a fully operational
jet-powered aircraft into the skies. Whittles engine was eventually
given recognition in 1941, when a new airframe was developed around the
engine. This aircraft was the E28/39 which first flew from Farnborough
on the 15th May of that year. The aircraft flew at speeds of up to
334mph. Thus began the Allies foray into jet power.

The
delays which hampered Whittle had proved to be a distinct advantage for
Germany. The newly installed Nazi régime had become seriously
interested in developing new forms of propulsion for its fledgling
Luftwaffe, and in the run up to the outbreak of war in 1939, 2
jet-engine designs had been submitted to the Reichsluftministerium in
Berlin. One design was by powerplant designers BMW, and the other by
aircraft designers Junkers. To this end, a directive was issued in 1938
to all main players in the German aviation industry, which called for `
a fully jet-powered fighter design incorporating a swept wing`. The main
player in the race to get a jet powered fighter airborne was Heinkel.
Heinkel's design, the He280, was the worlds first purely jet-powered
aircraft. The design was the most advanced of its day, and flight
trials were very promising.

Two things though, hampered the He280 submission. These
were the Nazi's insistence that Heinkel should concentrate their energies
on their bomber aircraft, namely the He111, which was becoming
Germanys premier mid-range bomber; and the other was that Ernst Heinkel
wasn't in particular favour with the Nazi Hierarchy. The 280 was doomed.

One man who was very
much in favour was Wilhelm Messerschmitt, and his preliminary
design was accepted as a test bed for the new BMW003 powerplant.
Ironically, the airframe, designed by Dr. Woldemar Voigt, was
complete BEFORE the new jet engines. So, on the 18th April 1941, the first
Me262 (V1)Werke Nr.42012, flew from Augsburg, with a 750Hp
Junkers Jumo 210G piston engine mounted in its nose. Speed attained
in this flight was 450km/h. The original 262 was a `tail-dragger` design;
the nose wheel was a development of a later prototype. The new BMW engines
became ready for airframe installation in November 1941, and on the 25th
March 1942, the 262 flew with BOTH its 2 BMW jet engines, and the
trustworthy Jumo 210G upfront. This was, however, unintentional foresight
on behalf of Messerschmitt's team, as during this flight, both BMW engines
failed due to compressor blade failure, leaving test-pilot Fritz Wendel
to land the plane solely under piston power. The BMW engines, which were
proving to be extremely unreliable, were now cancelled out of the Me262
equation, therefore Messerschmitt continued the development of his
aircraft using the new Junkers jet engines, the Jumo004 (known as
the T1 engine). These engines had previously been tested under the wings of
the Bf110 during their trials. A match was made. These new jets were more
powerful than the old BMW ones, producing over 2000lb of static thrust
each. They were also a LOT more reliable.

Me262V3
(PC+UC) immediately after her maiden flight, 18th July
1942.

Test flights were conducted using a combination of both piston and jet
power again, and on the 18th July 1942,at Leiphein airfield near
Ulm, the Me262 flew solely on jet power, heralding in the dawn of a new
era in aviation. The pilot again for this flight was Fritz Wendel. This
was Me 262 V2, Werknummer
(WNr) 262 00002. The powerplants were
designated Jumo 004 A-0. There was a problem with takeoff because
of the undercarriage having a tail wheel. A ground crewman suggested to
Fritz "When you reach 180 km/h tap the breaks lightly" ( to lift
the tail). He thought it was a good idea. He did it and so he succeeded in
taking off. After a 12 minute flight he returned and had much
enthusiasm for the aircraft. He had reached an altitude of 2000 meters and
a speed of 600 km/h. Control and the engines worked smoothly.

On the next
flight that afternoon he reached 3500 meters, a speed of 720 km/h and a
climb rate of 5-6 m/s. There was a problem with the landing speeds because
of the airflow over the wing center sections. The leading edge was
therefore extended forward on the V3, after wind tunnel tests suggested
this solution. The problem was thus amended. The takeoff run was also
shortened by 380 meters. The wings therefore got the straight sweep
instead of the slight crank on the V1, which had a greater sweep outboard
from the engines that inboard from the engines.

The performance of the 262 in
trials was incredible. Test
pilots were flying at speeds only pilots of the best piston-engined
fighter could even dream of. And this performance typified every flight
the Me262 made. The 262 project then went through a period of intense
evaluation, but Allied bomber attacks on industrial centres in Germany
prevented the 262 from immediately going into full scale production.

In late 1943, with the
Reich coming under more frequent attack from Allied bombers, Hitler
ordered the Me262 to be put into full scale production, stripping the
tooling from some factories, and replacing it with the new Messerschmitt
jigs. By now, the Reich's war production was becoming severely disrupted,
and a shortage of the new Jumo004 engines became a prime factor in the
downfall of the 262. New aircraft designs submitted by the likes of Arado
and Heinkel, to the RLM in Berlin, called for the new
Jumo also, thus temporarily bleeding the already limited supply dry. The
new BMW004 engine was by now in production, and mostly, new designs
tendered had to use this new powerplant in order to alleviate Junkers
already stretched demands for the 262 design. This, coupled with the insistence
by Hitler that the new design should be used offensively as a
bomber, instead of defensively as a fighter, caused severe problems to the
already burgeoning project. Hitler, even under extreme
pressure from Messerschmitt himself, Generaleutnant Adolf Galland,
and Hermann Goering, could not be reasoned with and as a
result Galland fell from favour with Hitler.

The worlds first squadron, comprised entirely of jet fighters, was the
Kommando Nowotny headed by Major Walter Nowotny himself. The first kill accredited to a Me262 was on the 25th July 1944, when a
photo-reconnaissance Mosquito was attacked over Munich. Ignoring the insistence of Hitler, most airframes were completed as fighters instead of bombers, and when Hitler was informed of this he flew into a rage, grounding all current 'builds' in order that they may be continued as bombers. If the aircraft was allowed to be produced as a fighter, there may have been some time bought by Germany, as the Me262 would have been used to stave-off allied bomber formations which were pounding Germanys industrial heart. This was not to be. Instead, allied bombers wreaked havoc on aircraft production centres, causing some 262 production to be transferred to rural and woodland areas. It wasn't to be long before allied intelligence found these rural production
centers, usually housed under camouflage tarpaulins, and ordered bombing raids.

Major
Walter Nowotny, Führer, Kommando Nowotny, 1944

Of all those who
encountered the 262 the reports were the same. Allied pilots were in
awe of the new jet, and had deep respect and fear of it. On the
pilots side, the 262 was beautiful to fly albeit not very responsive to
throttle control. When attacking any bomber formation, pilots had to
think well in advance and act quickly as failure would result in the jet
'over shooting' the formation due to its comparatively incredible speed.
This actually did become a hindrance to attacking pilots; but the merits
bestowed upon the 262 far outweighed it's disadvantages. It must be
hard to imagine the delights of fighter pilots who were given such
machines to fly.

Altogether between 1400 and 1500 Me262's were built, or in
some form of construction at the close of the war. Out of this
number, only about 300 saw active service. The remainder were
grounded due to either fuel shortages, conversion to bomber status at
Hitler's command, spare parts, or more importantly-trained pilots.
As the allies took over aircraft factories, several and wind tunnel models
for advanced versions were already underway. Big things were
certainly planned for the 262. Some bomber and fighter bombers had
already been built and were in active service, along with radar equipped
nightfighters (Nachtjagers). A number of 262's were fitted
with a long nose cannon which would fire 50mm shells into bomber
formations from long distance, and even rocket powered versions using the Walter
rocket, the Me163 powerplant, were used.

If the 262 had
entered active service perhaps 6 to 8 months earlier, the tide of the war may
have been changed, or at the very least, extended past 1945. We will never
know for certain. We do know, however, that the 262's legacy continued
well into the cold war period: the North American F-86 Sabre
employed a wing design that was derived from advanced studies which the Germans
had conducted during the Me262 project.

(To
read a more detailed account of the History of the Me262, visit `Stormbirds
At War`, here on Stormbirds.com)